Golden Eagle tennis team kicks off fall season at UT Tournament

Sep 14, 2011

Photo: Alex Chen is one of three seniors in the
Golden Eagle roster

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- For Kenny Doyle and his Golden Eagle tennis
team, the waiting is almost over -- especially for Syrym
Abduhkailikov. Tennessee Tech kicks off the fall portion of the
2011-2012 schedule this weekend at the UT Fall Invitational in
Knoxville, and Abduhkailikov embarks on his Golden Eagle career
after waiting a full year.

Doyle will take six players to compete in the three-day
tournament, with play slated for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the
Barksdale Tennis Stadium. Tech's lineup will include four returnees
plus the debut of two newcomers.

Three seniors will headline the lineup -- Alex Chen from
Samarkand, Uzbekistan, James Crawford from Winchester, England, and
Justin Kirstein from Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophomore Vasily
Eremeev, who joined the team last January and played through the
spring season, is the fourth returnee in this weekend's lineup. He
hails from Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Abdukhailikov is one of two Golden Eagles making his much
anticipatd debut this season, along with freshman Ezequiel Gils.
Abduhkailikov came to Tech in January from the University of
Oklahoma, but has been sitting out one full season because of his
previous Davis Cup experience. The 6-foot-3 sophomore from
Kazakhstan, he has 13 years of national and international
experience, capturing numerous titles in Greece, Georgia and
Pakistan. He was ranked in the ITF U18 Top 70, and held world
rankings of 548 on the ATP singles charts and 460 in doubles.

Draw sheets will be released Thursday by Tennessee, and results
will be posted on the UT Vols website. Tech's success will be
documented daily on TTUsports.com as well as announced on Twitter
by following @TTUGoldenEagles.